Time of No Return
by hakanamu
Summary: With nothing to gain but everything to lose, Minato risked a last-minute addition to the Shiki Fuuin. He succeeded in wiping Kyuubi from the past, only to discover he had also invalidated his own future…
1. Return

**Disclaimer:** I. no. own. NARUTO.  
**Warning:** Spoilers & wild theories abound…

* * *

**- CHAPTER 1 - Return -  
**

.

'_I'm so going to kill that fucking Uchiha!_'

His pen snapped.

Ink spluttered everywhere as he spewed out colorful curses in every dialect known to be spoken in the Five Great Nations. Oh yes, Namikaze Minato was pissed.

His own clone demurely pulled over a fresh sheet of paper, but not before giving him a pointed glare for ruining an hour of painstaking work. Minato sighed heavily and reined in his frustration. He could not afford to run off and hunt down Madara now, not when his village was vulnerable. The crafty bastard had nailed him right at his Achilles' heel, trapping him in a corner with no way out.

"Times like this, I regret accepting the Hat," Minato muttered sourly as his right hand moved across the clean paper with practiced precision. Given this was already his third attempt at completing the same array of seals, it was all too easy for him to fall back onto an auto-pilot mode. "It's not like there weren't other good candidates."

"Like whom?" the young Hokage heard his own voice asking in a rather flat tone. "Orochimaru-baka was stupid enough to get caught. Tsunade-hime had one shock too many. Oh, and let's not forget Jiraiya-sensei who was the one that nominated _us_."

Minato hummed noncommittally as he spared a glance to see his clone penning the array's secondary pattern. No matter how familiar he was with the Kage Bunshin technique, it was still weird to hear himself speak as another person.

The clone was currently making modifications on his original Shiki Fuuin to salvage their current situation. Madara might have won this battle, but Minato was not about to let him win the war. Sealing a demon as powerful as Kyuubi with the Death God's power alone would be risky, but… not if its core spirit was directed somewhere else.

Minato the father felt disgusted that he would even consider making his own son a Jinchuuriki, but Minato the Hokage knew it was his best chance at ensuring the survival of both Konoha _and_ Naruto. He could have chosen other children for the horrid burden, but the Fourth Hokage was selfish too. Others might claim they simply could not trust an orphan with no connections (publicly or in secret) to bear that much raw power, but Minato was honest enough to admit that he simply wanted to leave a parting gift for his legacy.

He had no illusion about the village's possible reception of his boy despite whatever will he might manage to leave behind; but Minato believed that such a hostile environment would only serve to toughen Naruto's mentality for a long life as ninja. Augmented with Kyuubi's massive chakra reserve, there would be very little that Naruto could ever be threatened with, at least power-wise.

He was prepared if Naruto ever grew to hate him. He was even prepared if Naruto ever decided to destroy Konoha.

If the village would stoop so low as to twist his child into a hate-filled creature, then Minato did not think Konoha deserved to be saved again. Because he was Hokage, Minato would willingly sacrifice himself for the village just as every shinobi would do out of duty. Also because he loved his village, Minato could condemn himself to a sentence of eternal torment at the hands of Death God. But Naruto had no such obligations, his son or not.

Call it wishful thinking, but Minato had a nagging suspicion that his child would come to embrace the Will of Fire just as much as he had anyway.

A loud cough drew his attention back to the paper in front of him. Minato blinked. Well, it looked like he had finished writing down the primary pattern for an S-rank seal without even paying attention. Probably broke his own record too. Hmm…

His clone also seemed to have completed his part. The young Hokage quickly scanned over the seal design drawn, noting two Shishou Fuuin precisely combined and balanced via a Hakke no Fuuin Shiki to ensure maximal subjugation of the Kyuubi no Youko. Sufficient space had also been provided between the two Four Symbols Seals, making whatever chakra that he choose not to seal with the Death God accessible to Naruto.

"But over time, this won't hold," his clone had came around the desk to stand beside him to offer his own commentary. "We might want to set up a key for the Trigram so Naruto can eventually activate its last defense and harness the full extent of Kyuubi's chakra reserve with innate control."

Tapping the desk rhythmically with his fingers, Minato frowned as he thought about that approach. "But that would still damage his body. His chakra coils alone may grow to adapt with the demon's power, but the human body as a whole was never intended to withstand the long-term corrosion of demonic chakra."

And he wanted his son to grow up healthy. Potentially getting ostracized was enough; Naruto did not need other complications. He was all Minato had left now.

"Do _you_ have a better suggestion?" his clone deadpanned.

With the same mind and the same knowledge base, they both knew that there was little chance for something new to come up between the two of them; but Minato was nothing if not stubborn.

"_I_ don't care. There's got to be a way," he insisted.

Two pairs of blue eyes met, and his clone sighed first. "Very well, I'll go and prepare for the sealing. Stew on it if you insist, but you better hurry up if you don't want Kyuubi to actually stomp out the village."

Minato nodded, even though it was a pretty useless gesture to use with one's own clone. "Say goodbye to Naruto for me. And see if you could sneak one last look at Kushina before you're done."

His clone stopped in mid-step for less than a second as he received the original's directives, but did not pause long enough to make a reply as he stiffly strode out of the chamber.

The ANBU guards, who had up till then been waiting at a respectable distance, came up to accompany his clone. Minato waited until he felt every last one of them depart from the scene before sagging unceremoniously into his chair.

He was finally alone.

"I actually think Orochimaru-senpai would have an easier time of solving this problem," Minato chuckled softly, bitterly. "So simple to be him… Just go for whatever gives him more personal power."

The desk in front of him offered neither agreement nor objection. Indeed, despite having ran through several different options in his head, his mind still felt as blank as the desk's empty surface when it came to finding a perfect solution. His clone had already taken the plan for their final seal, and all the paperwork that had managed to make its way into his office on this hectic day had already been completed.

A remote part of Minato's mind even congratulated himself for leaving no backlog of work for his successor.

…Who would most likely be Sandaime-sama. There would be no other Kage-level ninja capable of a leadership role in Konoha after Minato sacrificed himself. The village had yet to fully recover from the Third Great Ninja War, and that accursed Uchiha just had to add salt to the wound after losing his convenient scapegoats. Minato supposed that he would have been just as clueless as the rest of his forces, were it not for him starting to connect the dots between past inter-village conflicts. This groundless attack from Kyuubi only cemented his suspicions of Madara's shadowy machination. Sometimes, ignorance was truly bliss—especially if one had so little time to deal with the knowledge, even if it was given.

"What would you do?" Minato murmured as he looked up to the three portraits of his predecessors (and possible successor) lining the wall across from his desk. "What would you do differently?"

Nothing.

They were all Hokages, shadows of the fire spirit that kept Konoha strong. They had always done what was for the greater good of the village.

As for whether all their decisions were above reproach, however, possibly only Sandaime-sama could be counted as such if one was to believe that the village archives were complete. Minato's recent foray into their Hokage-only section had uncovered some dubious actions of Shodai-sama and Nidaime-sama, which Sandaime-sama might be equally guilty of but was simply better at covering his tracks. But whatever their true reasons, the Hokages' actions did always have Konoha's interest in mind. There was nothing more he could dig out from that direction.

If not Hokages, then… "And what would Orochimaru-senpai have done?"

It was a dangerous question… but a tempting one. Even though he was chosen for the mantle of Hokage in the end, Minato knew the Snake Sannin and he were far too alike on certain levels. It was not just the title of "genius" that people had carelessly dumped on them. No, genius was not it…

Dedication, perhaps? Yes, that was a good way to put it. Both of them were single-minded and willing to do whatever it took to achieve their goals.

Orochimaru wanted to procure powers for personal supremacy and to become the "ultimate being." Minato's ambition was slightly more tempered: he wanted to secure powers for personal _peace of mind_. Most of the time, that meant he desired them to protect those that he cared deeply for… which was pretty much everyone in Konoha.

But there was a more ambitious desire that he hardly revealed to anyone. By virtue of his position, Jiraiya-sensei knew some of it.

Minato really, truly wanted to become the "ultimate traveler."

The concept sounded innocent enough until one included time. Oh, Minato had traversed enough places on the continent during missions to be sated in regards to _physical_ travel… He also experimented enough with dimensions and space to have concluded his pursuit in that direction (summoning techniques of all forms were his pride and joy, after all). But time… it was something he barely touched on with his Hiraishin no Jutsu. His signature move was still mostly based on space manipulation, and not as much on time manipulation as he would have liked.

Despite the heavy duties he had to handle as a Hokage since the war, Minato had continued with his research in private. He had made full use of his elevated clearance and had practically drowned himself in some of Konoha's most esoteric archives.

He supposed that he was lucky his research never required testing on live human subjects. _That_ would have gotten ugly…

Minato felt his eyes widening in sudden shock.

_'Wait!_' the young Hokage had to consciously calm himself down as his hands quickly moved through a series of hand-seals to release the lock on a certain drawer. _'This may work!_'

All along, he had been assuming that Kyuubi's mind could not be eliminated, thereby necessitating the confinement of its mind _and_ chakra. However, if one could somehow get rid of the demon's polluting consciousness, then its malevolent chakra would simply dilute and eventually become part of the elemental chakra that fire-affined ninjas use every day.

He quickly found his research notes, neatly packed in the hidden drawer. Flipping through the pages with ill-disguised impatience, Minato arrived at what he needed.

o-o-o-o

"_Experiment #51: Extension #19 of Reverse Summoning_

"_Background__: Summoning creates a rift in space through which two dimensions may converge for a short period of time, __the duration__ dictated by the amount of chakra supplied by the human Summoner. It is, however, possible for a Summon animal to reverse the process and initiate summoning with chakra supplied by the human Summoned._

"_Hypothesis__: Let a place in current time be one dimension, and the same place in past time be another dimension. Reverse summoning from the past should allow an individual from the present to travel back in time. Suggestion: Initiate experiment with Six Parallel Star seal._

"_Obstacle__: Must find a summon animal other than frogs… Don't want to face 'Bunta's wrath…"_

…

"_Result #1__: Subject died. Cause of death: brain damage._

"_Result #2__: Subject died. Cause of death: brain damage. Close inspection reveal brain structure to be initially undisturbed, but functions failed rapidly after abrupt absence of instinctual control in ten seconds."_

…

"_Conclusion__: Hypothesis requires amendment. Reformulation: Individuals or creatures may be sent to the past (at most 1 day prior given current data), but will overwrite past self. Death will follow fierce struggle between selves should the past self be unprepared AND judge entry to be hostile._"

o-o-o-o

There it was: his perfect solution.

Minato had planned to test the conclusion a bit more… for instance, by sending subjects back further than a day. Of course, he had yet to find the time to do that.

But that was only if he wanted to travel safely back in time, which was not his goal right now. The Fourth Hokage knew his death was inevitable after using Shiki Fuuin, a seal which was still necessary to safely dispose of Kyuubi's excess malevolent chakra. However, he only needed to kill off the demon's mind in this case—which would be highly probable if he sent the Fox back in time where its two minds would clash by surprise and result in mutual destruction.

The young Hokage felt his lips twisting into an uncontrollable grin. Madara might be out of his reach now, but at least he would see to a swift revenge on Kyuubi.

Not to mention the annihilation of Kyuubi's consciousness would prevent any demonic essence from ever entering Naruto's chakra circulation. His son would gain the massive chakra pool of a demon, but without the dangerous loss of rational control that was usually associated. After all, the purified chakra would simply become a normal part of his reserve without Kyuubi's mind there to taint it.

And without a possession mark, such as whiskers or some other foreseeable odd traits, the Fourth Hokage doubted anyone could miss Naruto's resemblance to him. Blond hair and blue eyes—the villagers would have to be idiots not to recognize that the boy was his son. If Sandaime-sama was smart enough, Naruto's Jinchuuriki status might never become known. The boy would not even be one technically, as he had no demon to "contain."

However, Minato's expression soon sobered when he felt his clone dispel. Closing his eyes, he saw what would probably be his last memory of Kushina: an ethereally pale face framed by limp red hair.

She was as beautiful in death as in life.

.

"So the Kyuubi sighting to the north was a feint," Minato said. He was not too surprised to hear this news from an ANBU captain as they sped across Konoha. After all, how else could Madara draw the more "dispensable" of the two Hokages away from the actual attack? The pinwheel-eyed fossil would not allow Konoha to keep its Fourth Hokage, not when Minato was still young enough to have the potential of surpassing him and pose a serious threat to his plans.

"It seems to be the case, Hokage-sama," the captain conceded stoically as he moved alongside Minato, who had to forgo his signature teleporting to allow the other man to deliver his report.

Despite the ANBU's façade of calm, the young Hokage was perceptive enough to detect the undercurrent of agitation brewing just underneath. Minato could understand the captain's concerns, though. After all, it was the man's own brethren who were undoubtedly facing the real pressure at the south front now.

The blond quickly took stock of the situation. There was no way that Sandaime-sama could return in time now, which was a relief for the Fourth Hokage. He had his suspicions about the original sighting, but one could never be too careful about a potential disaster of such magnitude. With so little time, he really did not want to get into a last-minute argument about _who_ should sacrifice himself with Shiki Fuuin. Minato would never win the verbal sparring unless he exposed his experiments in reverse summoning, which he definitely did _not_ want to reveal.

He was just that stingy when it came to his prized creations. What others did not know could not be used against him.

… And it had absolutely nothing to do his disgruntlement with the Sharingan.

The Rasengan might be one notable exception, but he had to keep Jiraiya-sensei and Kakashi hush-hush about his private life with _something_. It might as well be his ultimate masterpiece in chakra manipulation. He probably did not have to resort to such measures to achieve the same result, but Minato knew the value of positive reinforcement was oft overlooked.

When the village's southernmost gate was in sight, Minato had his orders ready for the captain. "Leave half of your platoons in the village to maintain order under your Second-in-Command. Have him shadow and guard Sandaime-sama when he returns."

Minato would not put it past Danzou to try something underhanded during both Hokages' absence, even if this was a time of crisis for the whole of Konoha. If the man did not have enough restraint to cease his power plays during the village's most trying days in the last war, why should he stop now?

"Hokage-sama…" the captain was clearly showing his unease now. Minato nearly bit his tongue for what he had inadvertently implied… other than his obvious distrust for Danzou's twisted Ne.

But the blond did not expect to live beyond an hour anyway, so having his self-sacrificial intentions known at this point probably did not matter. The captain would know better than to disclose this information too early with a power vacuum in the village; Minato could trust the man to wait at least until Sandaime-sama's probable reinstatement. As for the inevitable impact on the morale of his ANBU in the mean time… well, there was no crying over spilt milk now.

Not wanting to answer any uncomfortable questions from the captain, the blond swiftly cut him off, "Bring the other half with you and meet me at the southern line." Seeing the man's hesitation, Minato added a bit more edge to his tone than what was probably necessary, "You should relay these orders to your subordinates _now_, captain."

The man flinched as if physically struck, and then curtly bowed before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Minato grimaced as he distracted himself with surveying the area around him. '_So much for parting on good terms._'

He could sense several of his Hiraishin kunai in the forest, most of which he had discreetly seeded the moment he took the office of Hokage—just for emergencies like this. However, the closest to Kyuubi's current position was probably the one carried by Kakashi.

But he was also in a clearing wide enough for summoning Gamabunta, and the Toad Boss could help him a lot more beyond a simple transport to the frontline.

Kyuubi certainly did not give him the leisure of pondering on this issue for too long. For even as he bit his thumb and ran through the familiar hand-seals in a blur, Minato felt a vicious gale blasting his village's walls head on.

Even as he anticipated the smoke from his summon dissipating from his field of vision, Minato felt a sudden rush of cowardly hesitation. Even if he could resign to this being his sacrificial duty as Hokage, his brilliant and ever curious mind still coveted more time to reach its full potential. There really were still too many interesting topics in this world that remained for him to research and resolve…

But Kushina was dead. Naruto would be soon condemned by the stigma of his parting gift. Minato would never have the happy, normal, and _complete_ family life again even if he survived.

Plus, those cries were beginning to reach him.

"It's him! It's Yondaime-sama!"

"Hold the line! Yondaime-sama is here!"

Elevated on Gamabunta's head, Minato's lips thinned into a taut line as he forced himself to calmly examine every gory detail of the bloody scene unfolding before him. Most of his ninjas had been forced back from the earlier gale, but were still persisting in their steadfast resistance. Jounins were still organizing assaults after assault, only to be brutally crushed as they tried to protect their subordinates. Chuunin after chuunin was still filling gaps where comrades had fallen, but they were swatted down themselves when Kyuubi found them to be enough of a nuisance.

High-level jutsus of all kinds were being hurled across the veritable battleground as if they were merely Academy exercises, but none appeared to be effective against the demon. Fire or lightening simply fueled the flames, wind just fanned them all the brighter and higher, and water or earth barely halted the nightmarish inferno before being completely overcome by the demon's sheer power.

Along the main transport routes, even some genins had taken up support roles such as ferrying the injured or weaponry. Although those present were chosen for their experience when compared with fresh Academy graduates (who were tasked with precautionary evacuations back in the village), not all of them were skilled enough to avoid the stray fire that Kyuubi either deflected or produced. The ones that were, still did not escape completely unscathed.

And towering over them all was the Kyuubi no Youko in all its terrifying glory.

One casual sweep of its tail would send entire sections of the forest up in flames or splinters. Another swipe would leave behind a trail of blood and gore, having caught unsuspecting ninjas with its unnatural speed. Indeed, against the likes of Kyuubi, all of them were as fragile as porcelain figurines in the hands of a petulant child.

Regardless of rank, lives of shinobi and kunoichi alike were harvested before their time with merciless efficiency. Battle-hardened elites who had survived countless skirmishes during the last war were meeting their ends here, before they could pass on their knowledge and experience to the younger generation. Though he would not be there to see it, Minato knew the sheer number of deaths he witnessed tonight was bound to have severe repercussions well into the future. All in all, it was any Kage's worst nightmare.

Minato knew, then, that he would do anything to make this horror story end. Any doubts about his own selflessness were now washed away by a painful empathy for the plight of his villagers… the ones who had come to accept him… the ones who he had come to love… and all those he had sworn to protect as the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Satou.

Here, then, was perhaps his most evident departure from Orochimaru-senpai. There was just no way that the Snake Sannin would ever make a decision as "foolish" as this.

'_Let all the deaths end with mine._'

As if sensing his unspoken resolution, the Toad Boss chose at that moment to finally speak, "**Is this going to be our last battle together, gaki?**"

The question came out as a loud rumble; it was nothing compared to the Kyuubi's mountain-shattering snarls, but it would still have sent inexperienced ninja reeling. However, Minato had worked with Gamabunta for far too long to lose his footing over such trivial tremors.

Instead, he replied serenely as he gently massaged his hands to prepare for the hand-seals. With all self-doubts gone, Minato even managed a faint smile. "Aye, 'Bunta. Guess you'll have to put up with Ero-sensei all by yourself in the future."

The Toad Boss grumbled unintelligibly. Whether it was in agreement or in derision of his statement, Minato was not quite sure. The young Hokage was too preoccupied with ensuring the sealing procedure would to be flawless.

He knew that there would be no second tries if he messed up the hand-seal sequence in the next few minutes. Besides, that would have been the greatest insult to those men and women who were, even as he watched, risking their lives to give him a safe opening.

"'Bunta, can you get us any closer to the demon?" Minato began flashing through hand-seals, but purposely left out just the last one until they could get within a proper distance from their target. Thin tendrils of icy chakra began to worm up his forearms; it was a mark of his sealing prowess to even be able to put off on having to pour the entirety of chakra needed. "Say… 60 feet to the southwest?"

"**I'm on it,**" Gamabunta sprung off in said direction, having pulled out two katanas somewhere along the way to block any attack coming their way. Out of the corner of his eyes, Minato could see that his ninjas had upped their efforts in distracting the demon fox—probably and correctly realizing he was about to use a close-range technique.

Dodging a whip from the Kyuubi, the Toad Boss hurriedly asked as they landed in a clearing among still-smouldering woods, "**Will this do?**"

It was not ideal. Minato knew he would probably get a much better result if they were closer, but he did not want to endanger his long-time partner any more than he had to. "Yes, this is just fine. Thanks for everything, 'Bunta."

Not giving Gamabunta the chance to worry about teary farewells, the Fourth Hokage gathered up his chakra and moved his fingers into the final hand-seal position: "_Mi_!"

The icy sensation that had been steadily numbing his arms burst into a sudden crescendo. Minato grimly tilted his head to see if he could see the fabled Death God. He was not disappointed. Wild manes of long white hair wrapped around an astral projection of himself, dark claw-like fingernails on hands extended to either side, ghostly gobs of flame floating around its body… The so-called "god" had an almost demonic air about it. The young Hokage had a moment of wonderment, contemplating the possibility of whether it truly just took one greater demon to subdue another.

The Toad Boss could not see the god, of course, but he probably sensed the obvious disruption in the natural energy around them. "**So eager to die, gaki? Do you miss Kushina that much? What about your son?**"

'_Gerotora and his big mouth…_' Minato would have shaken his head if he did not have to conserve his energy. Instead, he only turned his head back to facing the Kyuubi once more. "I do miss Kushina, but this is more for Konoha… _and_ Naruto."

Yes. He _might_ be doing this just a little more for Naruto than for Konoha. Call it irrationality, but Minato had loved that bundle of wrinkled skin to pieces ever since he laid eyes on his son. It had been a strange and inexplicable feeling, to know that you were willing to do whatever it took to ensure another's happiness unconditionally—even at the expense of your own. He had certainly felt something similar for Kushina, but… Gods forbid if she had heard him said this, he might have felt just a little stronger bond with Naruto.

Minato supposed such was the happy burden of fatherhood.

It certainly was enough to sustain him as the Death God's arm tore through his astral projection, forcing the Fourth Hokage to lower his voice to the barest of whispers as he added sadly, "Besides, where I'm going, I won't see her at all…"

"**So you got that project of yours to work, huh?**" Well, Gamabunta was certainly calm about all this. "**Why did you even want to come up with a seal that sticks you with your enemy's soul forever?**"

'_No loss, no gain_' would have been his answer, but the Toad Boss already knew that. So Minato only concentrated on silently urging the Death God to hurry up and reach out to the Kyuubi, as he could already see the ANBU reinforcement he asked for earlier starting to crack from keeping the demon's attention on them.

As soon as the Death God's tattooed arm reached its destination, the demon immediately shifted its interest away from the latest batch of ninjas that it had been roasting. As if noticing Minato for the first time, Kyuubi bared its teeth threateningly, "**You flesh-bag! You dare to set the Death God against me!**"

But its expression (if one could call it that) quickly morphed into one of smug contempt, despite the chokehold that the Death God's hand now had around its neck, "**Foolish mortal, it is of no use. You cannot do anything against me, a force of nature!**"

'_Ah, but I'm not simply relying on Shiki Fuuin,_' Minato smirked weakly, feeling the S-rank kinjutsu taking its toll on him despite his best attempt at chakra conservation. Unclasping his hands from the serpent seal, the young Hokage rapidly flew through another, shorter sequence. '_I, Inu, Tori, Saru, Hitsuji!_'

Fate must love ironies. Who would have thought a variant of the simple _C-rank_ summoning jutsu would deliver the final blow for bringing down a _SS-class_ demon?

As his vision began to darken, Minato felt the fiery essence of a thrashing Kyuubi as the Death God's retracting arm resolutely pulled the fox in—as well as the telltale creeps of a reverse summon originating from somewhere far, far away…

His invention must have worked, then. The Kyuubi would die on this day, and Konoha would recover in the years to come. The Fourth Hokage had enough faith in Sandaime-sama for that; his predecessor-cum-successor would see to the village's full restoration to pre-war strength.

Naruto too, would be safe under the venerable Hokage's stewardship. It would not reflect well on the village to spit on a martyr's orphan, right?

Minato thought he might have seen Kushina smiling down at him from the dimming sky in agreement, and he cracked a weak grin at her comical thumb-ups. Even in death, she was the same lively ball of energy that he could always count on to buoy his spirits.

That was, if his rationality had not coldly pointed out that she was more likely just a figment of his imagination. As it was, he was never going to see her again—in this world or the next. But he felt sure that he would have made her happy by ensuring that Naruto would be strong and protected, even without them being there for him. They might have to die ahead of their time, but their boy would live.

And he smiled contently as the Death God took him.

.

There was darkness… All-encompassing darkness. There were also _thing_s floating in the air around him, each of them illuminated by an eerie bubble of greenish light. He struggled to make out what the contained objects actually were, but all he could tell was that they looked like some sort of half-digested bolus—rather unsettling, if he was willing to admit.

Two of them looked alarmingly like the first two Hokages of Konoha too… Another looked like a pair of half-chewed human limbs… And was that Sandaime-sama he just saw hugging those Hokage-shaped globs to himself like some kind of plushie?

The Fourth Hokage was exceedingly confused. Had he stayed up too long again? What was with all those outlandish fantasies that his psyche came up with?

Suddenly, his body was shaken rudely and the darkness exploded into irregular fragments… then into tiny spots… then they were gone. Completely and without a trace.

Without warning, he had a full blast of undiluted sunlight pouring straight onto his face.

Minato groaned as he realized he just woke up from sleep. Wait… Did that mean Kyuubi and all those cathartic deaths were just a dream?

"What a way to start one's day!" Minato chuckled lightly to himself. But then he noticed something off about his voice: he was pretty sure that he went past puberty ages ago, so why did his voice sound so… girly?

Bewildered, he sat up from his bed abruptly and had to cough out the saliva that he accidentally swallowed into his respiratory tract.

"Finally up, sleepy head?" a familiar accent crept up from behind him. Whirling around with widened eyes, Minato's mouth opened involuntarily from shock when he saw who had spoken.

"What's wrong, Mina-chan?" Minato heard dimly, his hair getting a fond tousle. He could not help but continuing to stare at the speaker, who just finished resting a long bamboo stick against the wooden wall. A small part of Minato absentmindedly deduced that it must have been the same stick which opened up the sun-bleached shouji window and woke him up, but the rest of him was still too stunned to process such coherent thoughts. "Don't recognize your mom?"

Indeed, right before Minato's own disbelieving eyes was Namikaze Yumiko.

… His mother, the one and the same that he had buried with his own hands on Fire Country's southeastern coast some twenty-odd years ago.

* * *

**A/N: **This is a plot bunny that's been jumping around in my head for a while. People kept on sending Rokudaime!Naruto into the past, but what if you send Yondaime!Minato instead? I'd like to avoid super-powering him from the start despite his Kage-level knowledge, but then I'm not sure how many people would still be interested?

Feedback welcomed.


	2. Realization

**Disclaimer:** I. own. NARUTO. not.  
**Warning:** Spoilers & wild theories abound…

* * *

**- CHAPTER 2 - Realization -  
**

.

As he rinsed their dishes after breakfast, Minato's mind was still in a daze—or was it just the dull throb starting to develop in his temples? The current situation was certainly enough to give him more than a minor headache…

'_Yesterday was October 10th, but today is April 1st?_'

"Namikaze Minato, hurry up!" His mother's impatient yell forced him to temporarily put aside his growing unease. Looking up, the blond gulped when he spotted the stormy look on her face. "You already woke up late! We need to get to the market _NOW_!"

"Coming, mom!" Minato hastily grabbed the dripping plates, stacking them in a precarious pile next to the bamboo-made water pipe. The blond knew that he undoubtedly came off as a scared little kid desperate to avoid an impending punishment, but was that not precisely his cover at the moment?

It was not as if he could _really_ feel threatened by a cooking pan… even one, um, being waved in the general direction of his bum.

However, Minato was grateful for any reminder to keep himself on guard about his own behavior. The Fourth Hokage was still not quite sure where his Shiki Fuuin had gone wrong, but the current situation had only a very limited number of explanations—none of which were particularly comforting. For now, it was better for him to play things safe.

Besides, he had no idea what his mother meant by "market". His memories had drawn a complete blank at the phrase, just like most times when he tried to bring up details of his early childhood. Years of ninja training compelled the blond to automatically hide his confusion, but he might not be adequately in tune with his "new" face to block out an incriminating frown.

Well, when all else failed, good old "stare at the ground" worked too.

Minato made it to his mother's side, head-down, in just under thirty seconds… quite a feat considering his short legs.

But it was still rather embarrassing for Konoha's Yellow Flash to take that much time to cover only five straw-packed tatami mats. His legs felt oddly sluggish.

It was almost like his mind had to wait for them to catch up.

This lack of coordination was yet another proof of Minato's speculations—although he would rather be proven wrong at this point. There was no mirror in the dingy hut as far as he could find without being too obvious, but Minato had seen enough of himself during the past hour to find that he had a very child-like body. Low line of vision… limited reach… stubby fingers and short legs… The blond estimated that he appeared no older than a five-year-old. But if he was in a world where his mother was still alive, then he was probably closer to four years of age.

Minato heard a barely audible sigh as his mother knelt down in front of him. He must have spaced out for too long.

"What's wrong, Mina-chan? Are you feeling alright?" his mother asked, having abandoned the crates that she had been collecting outside the door.

Before he could catch himself, the one-time Hokage was already examining her appearance with critical eyes. However, even after he recovered from his habitual paranoia, Minato still did not stop the scrutiny. It had been many years since he had seen his mother up close, and he had always regretted not having a clear image of her.

She was petite, with the underdeveloped muscles of a civilian. Her facial features were similar to his—soft and feminine (much to his consternation when others teased him about it). One of the only things that really distinguished them was their hair. Minato's was a spiky mess of flashy yellow, but hers was a tamer mass of conservative ginger…

With wheat-colored roots near her scalp.

"'m fine," Minato heard himself mumbling as he wondered what his new discovery meant.

The color difference was not very obvious. In fact, his mother must have specifically chosen her hair dye for that reason. But why would a poor fishwife bother to dye her hair? Was it just to appease to a fickle sense of aesthetics? It was possible, he supposed, but his hazy memories of his mother did not paint her as a vain woman. Even now, seeing her in clothes made from pattern-free sack material and frayed at the edges, Minato could not accept that as the reason.

"Okay." Motherly concern still lingered in those brown eyes, although Minato could no longer be sure if that was their natural color. "But tell me if you don't feel too well, alright? We can still go to Dr. Sengu… he doesn't charge too much from us."

Discerning the genuine worry in her body language, Minato was finally able to suppress the paranoid ninja in him. He did, however, take a lesson from his earlier negligence and dutifully pulled along his small crate when it was handed to him.

Did he also mention that it weighed far less than it looked?

Minato waited until his mother had turned her back to him before taking a closer look at the crate, which readily revealed a small seal when he applied trace amounts of chakra to its handle.

'_Gravitation… reversed? How interesting. As long as this is charged with chakra, it will generate an upward pull that gives the illusion of a lighter load._' It was not Minato's first time to come across such seal types, but the sheer elegance of this one's design amazed him. Just three unreinforced fourth-order symbols added to a D-class weight seal! It was simply beautiful. Of course, he had to wonder who designed such an ingenious seal… only to put it on a mundane crate.

And who had originally fed the chakra.

There had been no seal master from this region until he came along; even then, most people only knew Namikaze Minato as a Konoha ninja. So while an answer to the growing number of puzzles around him could be easily deduced, Minato was unsure what to make of it. Not when this information never came up in his first lifetime.

As he trotted behind his mother, Minato tried to turn his attention onto more innocent topics—such as determining what she meant by "market". It became obvious as they left their isolated dwelling by the seashore and into the main trading area of a nearby hamlet: Nishiwan.

Despite being a native of this region, the blond still felt like a complete stranger as the din of Fire Country's harsh south-eastern dialect clashed disagreeably with his ears. It was not truly his mother tongue, after all.

His mother spoke a more sibilant vernacular from western Water Country, not uncommon among the mélange of residents living around Whirlpool Bay, and that was the language he grew up with. Minato had not known it at the time, but as a Hokage trying to identify the shadowy mastermind, he learned that it was Madara who drove most of these people or their forebears from Water Country. The old fossil might not have done so directly, but he certainly moved things along with all the civil strife he had stirred up over the years.

'_I wonder if that's how he planted his spies,_' Minato mused as he narrowly avoided being hit by another rushing vendor's cart. '_…Like mom? Blond hair is quite rare around here after all… but neither is it common in Mizu._'

The blond winced when he realized that his mind had reverted to an active suspicion of Namikaze Yumiko. '_But if she's a spy… why doesn't she disguise me? And how can her master ensure that I won't sell them out? They have to rely on something more reliable than blood ties…_'

It was a scary thought, to think that Konoha's Fourth Hokage might have been a sleeper agent for Kiri.

'_No, that's preposterous_,' Minato quickly dismissed the idea. '_Danzou would've never let a "security risk" get _his_ position—he'd boast of any blackmail material he had on me at the earliest chance. And I was definitely not seeing Kiri through rose-tinted glasses during my term. The fact that Madara tried to remove me is enough to confirm that I was no tool of his._'

Minato's pride in his intelligence refused to let him consider that he could have been a tool without his knowledge.

Having somewhat reassured himself, Minato focused on his surroundings once more. It seemed that as the morning's temperature continued to rise, an unusually thick mist was starting to roll off the crowded streets of Nishiwan. However, this phenomenon did not seem to deter the men and women who were too busy trading their goods to notice.

…Which quickly included Minato and his mother as they unloaded their baskets of clams and oysters.

.

Minato nearly fell asleep as soon as he hit his futon that afternoon.

He was just that tired.

At first, the blond had felt well enough to go through his day as usual… or as usual as an adult in a child's body could manage anyway. However, the strain of pushing his muscles to do things that he was used to doing as a ninja soon took its toll.

Such as balancing empty baskets on his back—they looked light enough at the time. Such as running the way home at top speed—it looked short enough at the time. Such as…

He had to start remembering he was no longer in his well-trained, fine-tuned body.

"Aw!" Minato cried out in surprise as he felt someone's hands forcefully squeezing down on his taut shoulders. His right hand reacted rather sluggishly after more than a second, reaching for a kunai pack that was not there.

His "attacker" seemed to notice neither his extreme response, nor his appalling speed. Instead, slim fingers simply pressed down in circles, easing the tension out of him. He did not want to mention it, but Minato wished the same could be done for his arms too. He felt like he might have strained a muscle in trying to execute that sudden movement earlier.

At least, asking for that was preferable to questioning where she had learned how to massage. Or why she was even doing this for a four-year-old son.

"If only this would teach you how to pace yourself," his mother muttered as she continued to massage him, seemingly moving a hand onto his right arm out of pure coincidence. "Stupid Namikazes…"

Minato quirked an eyebrow at that last statement. Was she not a Namikaze herself? But the way that she had just said it… his mother made it sound almost as if she might not be one by birth. So he did have a father, after all?

The blond knew, logically, that he had to have a father; he felt nowhere mutilated enough to be one of Orochimaru-senpai's experiments. Nonetheless, the constant absence of a father figure in his life had always grated on his inner child's sensitivities. He rarely played with kids his own age: they would either mock him for being a bastard at Nishiwan, or they would taunt him for being a refugee at Konoha…

It was not until he was placed on Team Jiraiya that Minato truly began to find a family among peers.

Sighing contently as he melted into his mother's soothing touch, Minato shifted into a more comfortable position as he contemplated the evidence he had gathered so far.

'_One, mom is alive…_' he smiled grimly as his half-lidded eyes peered at said woman. The one-time Hokage was still not sure about the hair dye, but blond hair did make more sense. '_If she's indeed my mother…_'

'_Two, my body is small and totally out of shape,_' Minato's smile deepened mirthlessly. It was possible someone might have dosed him with a de-aging potion after his standoff with Kyuubi; he had yet to hear of such a substance in practice, but that did not discount its existence somewhere out there. '_I'll have to remember to re-train myself…_'

'_Three, all the people I saw in Nishiwan__…_' the blond closed his eyes as he recalled his customers back at the market. He knew some of them were still alive when Kyuubi attacked Konoha; he got a reply from the town's elder thanking him for a warning after all. '_So the underworld theory is out._'

Of course, he could also be under a strong genjutsu… and he really did not have enough chakra at this time to verify the existence of an illusion, let alone breaking one.

'_Four, Kyuubi is not around,_' Minato frowned at the observation. If his Shiki Fuuin had succeeded, he should be battling against the taint of that demon's _yin_ chakra by now. '_So I can't be in the Death God's stomach either—__unless this _is_ what it's supposed to be like._'

With a balmy breeze choosing to brush over his face pleasantly at that moment, he doubted it to be the case.

'_Or I failed to send Kyuubi back in time,_' the one-time Hokage ruthlessly crushed the wave of anxiety _that_ particular suggestion brought in. '_And I travelled here instead. But even so, I should be brain-dead. I don't think my technique would let me off easy just because I'm its inventor._'

Besides, Minato could clearly recall the connection that he had established with Kyuubi towards the end of their encounter. The presence felt by his Shinigami-encased consciousness was too fiery and inhuman to be anything other than the demon.

Even so, he should not have survived if they were pulled back into the past together. The fact that he still lived sat uneasily in Minato's mind; what if the Kyuubi had also escaped unscathed? Did the demon retain access to its full chakra if his Shiki Fuuin failed? Or worse, would it now attempt to find a way to bridge the time gap and forcibly reclaim its freedom from Naruto?

Nonetheless, there was really not much Minato could do about a SS-class demon at this point… not with a four-year-old body. He could hardly mold any chakra, and his stamina just sucked.

Minato could only hope that the bond between Kyuubi and its "master" was, as he surmised, not a friendly one. He could not begin to imagine the damage that would be done to history if the demon gave Madara an even greater head start on his nefarious plans for the world this time.

'_But even if only Kyuubi and I made it here with no one the wiser, Sugeda might still know what happened since he was our summoner_…' Something in that train of thought nagged at Minato, but he was unsure as to what it was. He had negotiated reasonably with the summon animal as with any of his test subjects, offering a chance to be forever freed from unwanted summoning.

The deal was a mutually beneficial one, _if_ the experiment happened to go well. Minato found he maintained better relationships with denizens of the other dimensions that way—he would only ever get willing favors from living beneficiaries or sealed mouths from dead malcontents.

In contrast, Orochimaru-senpai's approach was so… crude.

But if Minato was in the past, then at least part of the reverse summoning must have worked; the success of that experiment would, in turn, void his contract with Sugeda and terminate their temporal synchronization…

Minato finally caught the inspiration that his subconscious had tried to tell him earlier. Yes, he was so used to looking at everything from the most pessimistic point possible, that he almost failed to envision a _positive_ result. Of course, Kushina usually would have remedied that… he cut off the beginning of a painful reminiscence before it could overwhelm him.

'_If our planes of existence no longer share the same time flow, then Sugeda will remember this whole time-travelling process! _'

Too eager to test out his hypothesis, Minato snapped open his eyes. The blond immediately noticed that he was alone on his futon, with his mother nowhere in sight. It was highly likely that she believed him to have fallen asleep.

'_I wonder where she went_,' Minato carefully scanned the one-room interior of their small hut, but could not see the woman anywhere. '_I can do it here, but I'll leave behind clues she might recognize. Here's to hoping no one is around to see this if I go outside._'

After he was completely out from under his futon cover, Minato realized that he was topless, _'Ah, now that would be why I'm feeling a little cold…_'

But he had not taken his shirt off when he laid down, so apparently he _had_ fallen asleep. The thought might have occurred to him sooner, only he could not remember the last time he was allowed to take a nap—much less accomplish the feat.

Putting his shirt back on, the blond hobbled outside with slightly stiff legs. It was a sunny afternoon, with the undulating surface of the sea shimmering like broken pieces of aquamarine glass. From his family's homestead, he had a beautiful panorama of Whirlpool Bay.

'_That'd be Nishiwan on the western bay_,' he spotted the closer town on the Land of Fire's side almost immediately. However, he could not seem to see around the bending point of the coastline. '_Odd. I thought we could see Touwan on the eastern bay from here too…_'

He briefly toyed with the idea of visiting Kushina in her hometown on Whirlpool Country's side right now, but dismissed the temptation instantly. She would not be _his_ Kushina. This past version of her would have absolutely no idea who he was, and the blond would have made a very bad first impression if he was just going to see another woman in her. They would meet at the Academy later on anyway, so he should respect their mutual history and be patient for its development.

Pushing aside all thoughts of Kushina and the Whirlpool Country, Minato turned back to the small clearing around his home but did not see his mother. '_Perfect, now all I need is to give a little blood…_'

The blond grimaced as his teeth tore through the tender skin of his thumb. '_Another thing for me to improve on: my pain tolerance._'

Over the next hour, Minato had plenty of practice as he bit and re-bit his thumb. Scarlet seal symbols began to slowly take form on the relatively even ground he had chosen, sprawling out in lines from a circle. Once he had the basic summoning seal down, the one-time Hokage added his personal modifications for contacting—rather than summoning—a familiar animal.

He felt light-headed when he was done, which only reminded him of his current weakness and set him on tweaking the seal array once more.

'_Chakra chakra…_' Minato had a pretty lame and corny song all made-up in his head by the time he finished. '_O beloved of a ninja… how I miss thee…_'

Jiraiya-sensei must have influenced him more than he realized.

The blond knew he probably had more than enough spiritual energy at his disposal with an adult's mind, but his child's body would have to go through many years of conditioning before his physical energy could hope to catch up. It was a new challenge to regain and surpass his old level… and Minato found he was oddly anticipatory.

There were, after all, so many things he could test now that his body was back to square one.

But first, he needed to summon what little chakra he _did _have.

Although Minato already designed the seal to draw most of its energy from nature, he still felt drained after the… for the lack of a better word… contact. However, the sight of a reed-colored snake made it a worthwhile undertaking in the one-time Hokage's view.

"**It was a success, Minato,**" Sugeda cut to the chase, just like most of his kind. "**Can I go now?**"

Scratching the back of his head, the blond gave the small-sized snake what he hoped was an apologetic look. "Um, sorry, but I really want to know what happened."

The snake hissed in annoyance, "**You're the one who came up with this, shouldn't you know? You gave me your weird seal, held me in some bubble, linked me with your chakra, blasted me through some old transport points between our worlds, and finally had me summoning you. What else was there?**"

That gave Minato pause. "So, Kyuubi was summoned back with me?"

His former summon of one "night" just nodded, not bothering with an answer.

"And its mind was wiped?" the blond continued to press, leaning in intently. "No more Kyuubi?"

Sugeda coiled up lazily, "**Sure. But there are other lesser fox demons who may eventually become powerful enough to be a new Kyuubi.**"

Interpreting Minato's blank face for something else, the snake added, "**They won't be blaming you for taking out the former Kyuubi even if word gets out that you're the one responsible… That weak-minded disgrace was looking at a clan-wide rebellion for years. There won't be any retaliation.**"

Minato sat back, suddenly tired, and not just from the blood loss either. So after all he did, he just took out _a_ Kyuubi?

The blond supposed he should have known that imperfection was to be expected from an incomplete knowledge base. On its own merit, his technique was indeed successful in destroying an enemy's consciousness, and he should probably be content with the results as they were.

"Thanks," Minato politely nodded to the snake. It was meaningless to blame a messenger. "But do you have any idea why I'm here… or how I'm still around?"

"**Hmm, _I don't know_,**" the snake mockingly looked at him sideways. "**Maybe it has _something_ to do with your consciousness being tied to Kyuubi's? It's likely just your chakra staying with the Death God now. As to why you're still alive… could've been your wild imagination as a man-child, for all I know. Who else would grow up to turn summoning into time-travelling?**"

The first explanation just confirmed his misgivings, but the simplicity of the second… had Minato completely floored. It made sense. Well, considering it was the truth, _of course_ it made sense.

He knew his dream of travelling through time was a very old one. It started before he knew of chakra or ninjutsu. It started before he knew of space or time manipulation. It started long before he left Nishiwan for Konoha.

The blond supposed he just never realized how old his dream actually was.

His four-year-old mind must have been ready to accept its future version had went back in time. With that required acceptance in place, the usual clash of minds probably did not occur. Recognizing how a one-time Hokage would be much more qualified to ensure their mutual survival, his past self had most likely given up all resistance.

Minato felt humbled by the realization.

"**_So_,**" Sugeda prompted again. **"Can I go now?**"

Refocusing on the snake, Minato gave a genuine smile. "Yes. Thank you very much, Sugeda. It has been a pleasure working with you."

The snake disappeared in smokes without a word. The act might have been rather rude, but Minato knew that snakes were just uncomfortable with owing a debt in general. They made the best debtors.

The blond was in a giddy mood for the rest of that day. Even if another Kyuubi arose within his lifetime, the demon would no longer be Madara's tool. If worse came to worst, he could always send a threat to Konoha back to the past as he had done with its predecessor. By the time such actions became necessary, Minato felt confident that he would have already figured out a way to extricate himself from the whole process.

He went to bed so happy and so early… that he did not realize something was wrong until the next day.

His mother never returned after that afternoon.

.

'_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_' Minato dug at the ground furiously. '_Why did I not suspect anything?_'

It was an unreasonable question, but the blond was beyond caring for his rationality at this point.

That morning, he had been horrified to stumble across his mother's corpse in the bamboo forest behind their hut. Ever since then, Minato had been tormented by the guilt for his awkward edginess around her all day. He could have made a better effort in talking with her, maybe ask about that father he never knew too! There were so many things they could have done together, so many memories they could have created for him to remember his mother by… But what did he do? He avoided her! He avoided her like she was some frigging enemy!

The feeling was exacerbated when he saw the single and lethal wound on her body.

'_If only I had been there…_' His bloodied hands were shaking as he trimmed the edges of the rectangular hole in the ground. '_No. No use thinking that way. I'd have been no help at all… not in this body._'

It was clear that Namikaze Yumiko was murdered, and by a ninja at that. The first time this incident happened, Minato had been clueless. All he could determine was that she just fell dead in the forest one evening, with no obvious injury on her. He had grieved and buried her, but never thought that there was anything unnatural about her death.

This time around, however, Minato's experience told him just a bit more. His chakra senses might currently be underdeveloped and could not pick up any residue of the actual jutsus used… but the barely visible hole in her back was precise enough that it had to be the work of a master in Silent Killing. There was no mistaking it. He had used the technique enough times during his stint in the Konoha ANBU.

But thinking back to the unusually thick mist from yesterday, Minato had to wonder if Kirigakure no Jutsu was also involved. If so, then Kiri was an obvious target for his suspicion, not that the one-time Hokage did not already have enough reasons to be suspicious of a village led by Madara. However, the blond did not want to jump to rash conclusions. With the exception of bloodline limits, there was no ninja technique that had not yet been duplicated successfully by a village other than that of the originator. Minato had hoped his own creations would be the first to break the record, but he had not stayed in his own time long enough to find out.

Panting in shallow breaths, Minato finally wobbled back into his home to find a suitable set of clothing for his mother. As a child last time, he did not know enough about the traditional customs to implement any of them.

This time, though, he was determined to pay her the proper respect.

He had to fumble through several storage spaces before uncovering a blue _furisode_ kimono under some tatami mats. Dyed with wave motifs, the full-sleeved dress was accented by silver embroidery of seashells and tortoises. Minato did not know if the formal garment was worn by his mother before she married, or she had indeed _never_ married. In either case, he thought that the dress would look good on her and that was what he settled with.

In dressing his mother, he also carefully removed what unnatural disguise he could find on her. The hair dye was the first to go. It was surprisingly easy to return it to its ashy wheat color with some scrubbing in soap and water. Contact lenses were also found and taken out to reveal the unusual shade of purple underneath. It was increasingly apparent that his mother had been hiding her appearance purposefully, and Minato wondered if she did it for the same reason that motivated her murderer.

As he lowered Namikaze Yumiko's body into its resting place with as much gentleness as his tired hands allowed, Minato vowed that he would not forget her murder. He knew better than to allow himself be consumed by revenge; as a parent himself, he believed his mother would have never wanted that to be his life's goal.

But the blond was ready to avenge her if he came across more clues.

.

One week after his mother's burial, Minato had an unannounced guest in the house.

"Say, kid, what is your name again?"

Minato struggled _not_ to scowl at his much-younger teacher's address of him, "Namikaze Minato, sir."

The blond had been spending the previous days packing up and preparing for a long haul to Konoha. He had started the trek earlier last time, but the blond thought it would not affect the timeline too much if he simply arrived on time. It was not as if he did not already know the Fire Country like the back of his hands.

However, he now wondered if he had tarried too long—for this teacher-student meeting was not supposed to happen until his graduation from the Academy. He knew his teacher had already taken up reconnaissance missions around the early stages of the Second Great Ninja War; but still, did he really have to drop into a civilian's household at sunrise like some inexperienced thief?

Someone was either being over-confident in his skill… or charm.

"Oh, right! You've got it written right here," Jiraiya-sensei's exuberant voice broke him out of his reverie. Minato looked up to see that the white-haired chuunin was smiling rather comically. The teenager was squinting at two name plates nailed beside the door: one had "Namikaze Yumiko" on it, the other "Namikaze Minato"…

Minato bit his lower lip when he saw those; he had forgotten to take them down. His mother must have used them as a way of acquainting him with their names in writing as a child. But now that he was going to leave the house, he could not just leave behind personal properties that could be easily turned against him by inventive enemies. Who knew how much harm could be done by an "old" letter in his mother's handwriting?

"What do you want, ninja-san?" the blond finally asked, wanting to draw attention away from a reminder of his lost family. He knew it was not a sign of cowardice to constantly wake up screaming after having a nightmare about his mother's murder. Sure, he had seen plenty of deaths—he had even been responsible for a good number of them—but it was not quite the same as the _first_ death that he had ever known. Knowing how to execute a Silent Kill himself also did not help.

His teacher sobered, taking on a serious demeanor that had Minato straightening up reflexively in response. "Have you noticed anything odd in town last week?"

The one-time Hokage was instantly on alert. Why did Jiraiyai-sen… no, Jiraiya-_san_ ask that question? Did he know something about his mother's death? "No… But there was this _really_ thick fog Tuesday morning."

It was so strange to see his teacher in a normal chuunin uniform, rather than the colorful costume he had taken to wear in Minato's adult memories…

"Fog… Can't… too obvious…" the chuunin mumbled to himself in a low voice, from which Minato could barely catch certain words.

Minato gave an inward sigh. It was impossible to dig out any useful information when he had the appearance of a four-year-old—although this _was_ Jiraiya he was dealing with here. "So, ninja-san, are you from Konoha?"

"That I am!" Jiraiya…san puffed up his chest proudly. "Thinking about joining us?"

"Yea," though Minato wondered how the white-haired chuunin would know. Perhaps kids around Nishiwan had shown the teenager just how eager they were to join the Fire Country's military elite?

The youngest member of the Sannin—wait, his teacher's team probably had yet to be dubbed as such by Hanzou—_Jiraiya_ then, had an unfocused look to his eyes. "I suppose you also want to learn some tricks to keep yourself safe?"

The blond smiled thinly, "Does it really matter?"

Jiraiya only nodded solemnly, "Ah, sorry if you don't want to talk about it. But I thought you'd like to know that you aren't alone. It looks as if there are many children from Nishiwan joining our Academy this year."

That was an interesting piece of information; Minato did not recall _that_ happening last time. Of course, he did not interact with his classmates that much. "Really? What about Touwan?"

The white-haired teen narrowed his eyes, "Of course not. No one survived Mizu's attack on Uzu."

Minato stared at his would-be teacher in surprise, "No one? You sure? Weren't there survivors?"

Jiraiya frowned, but seemed to find a four-year-old fisher-boy like Minato unlikely to be a spy. "Maybe news haven't reach you out here, kid, but Uzu was sunken right to the seafloor by order of the Water Lord a week ago. The Mizukage was rumored to have been the one who did the deed all by himself. In fact, that was why I was sent here to investigate."

The blond almost did not trust himself to speak, "You're… kidding, right? I still saw some Uzu pearls being sold on the market a few days ago."

The chuunin shook his head, "Nope. I don't kid about such things. The attack was said to have instant effect. No one got out. Touwan is just sandy beaches now, in case you haven't got a chance to see. I heard Nishiwan here escaped just narrowly; at least that's what a lot of kids have been telling me as their reason for joining us."

Looking down, Jiraiya gave Minato a considering look, "Haven't you heard all this? You don't live that far from town…"

The accidental time-traveler tightened, loosened, and tightened his fist again. Why had this deviation occurred? Was it a side-effect of removing Kyuubi from this world? Did that Uchiha lash out in anger when he realized his most powerful weapon was gone for good? Was that why he had deigned to involve himself directly in destroying Uzu?

What had happened to Kushina? Did she survive? There were definitely survivors from the former Whirlpool Country in what he thought would have been the future… Including one Uzumaki Kushina who would one day come to join him at the Academy… But now, he was not so sure that would happen again.

Minato knew he was facing a high likelihood of having travelled to the past of a timeline other than his own.

Or he had somehow changed his own past by travelling here.

"Are you sure there were really no survivors?" the blond just had to ask again. Maybe he had heard it wrong… Imagined things… Or, or _something_. This just was not supposed to happen!

"No! N. O. No!" Jiraiya looked annoyed too. "You got a friend from there or something? Sorry to break this to you, kid, but you better move on."

Minato snapped his head up, hands shaking in anger. Was this also not his Jiraiya-sensei either? The perverted teacher who he had known was carefree in his mannerism, but he was never this crass when it came to people's sensitivities.

Before the blond realize what he was doing, his right hand had come up with something flimsy swirling around it. He tried to hit Jiraiya with it, but of course that only made the chuunin chuckle.

"Woa… Cool yourself down first, brat," the chuunin grabbed Minato's arms easily. "No need to get up in a hissy. I'm sorry, alright? But it's really no use to live in the past. Your friend wouldn't want that."

Minato snarled. The frustration and self-loathing that he had built up over the last week, they were just too much to hold in now that he had a release point of sorts. A remote part of his mind noted that his Rasengan had failed much as expected, but he still punched his one-time teacher with bare fists. He did not care if he was merely tickling the older ninja's belly. All he knew was hitting, hitting…

"Are you quite done?"

That flat tone of voice, so reminiscent of the one used on him by the white-haired chuunin in later years, finally brought Minato back to his senses. The blond suddenly noticed that he had been hitting a pillow that used to be kept in the side closet—Jiraiya must have replaced himself with it using a Kawarimi no Jutsu somewhere along the way.

"Look, kid, I don't know what your problem is," Jiraiya bent down from his already impressive height, "but you obviously got potential. That was chakra you were molding back there, wasn't it? I bet you'd control it better if you've only kept your wits."

Tapping the blond's forehead with a finger, the white-haired teenager grinned, "First lesson for you: Good ninjas are always in control of their emotions."

Minato knew that, of course. It was the first rule that he had taught to his own genin cell too, back when both Obito and Kakashi were still pains in the ass to deal with. The former Hokage felt rather embarrassed that he was being told that rule again—by his perverted, irresponsible, teenaged teacher no less!

But, as Jiraiya-sensei patted his shoulders and stood up to leave, Minato found that he did not mind. Whatever happened, it seemed that his teacher would never change.

"_Hai_, _sensei_," he whispered as the door closed.

* * *

**A/N: **I had fun trying to pinpoint where the former Uzu no Kuni might have been located. Its name suggests possible whirlpool(s)—often found in a shallow strait where currents from different water bodies can collide at high velocity. After looking up maps from canon, the best match seems to be just off that peninsula near Hi no Kuni's southeastern corner (assuming Uzu was close enough to allow refugees like Kushina to safely flee to Konoha). And with Minato's name having so many sea-related connotations, I decided to add him to the mix.

I'm surprised to get flamed already. Are my chapters really too long? Because I can always cut back…


	3. Reposition

**Disclaimer:** I. own. NARUTO. not.  
**Warning:** Spoilers & wild theories abound…

* * *

**- CHAPTER 3 - Reposition -  
**

.

Minato slowly breathed out as he took in the large expanse of open beach before him. "It's really gone."

The sky was clear, the sea was gentle, the sand sparkling, and a few seagulls were even lazily gliding overhead. The scene was so deceptively tranquil that Minato had trouble reconciling the sandy stretch with its true function: a burial ground for thousands.

This was, as Jiraiya-sensei had alluded earlier that morning, all that was left of Touwan and its surroundings.

His eyes felt a little irritated around the edges. Minato wished that he could say it was just some stray sand grains that had blown into them—but there was no sense lying to himself. After all, he was seeing what was supposed to _be_ Kushina's homeland.

Just to be sure, Minato bent down and picked up a few pebbles from beside his feet. With several of them in hand, he began to fling them towards the beach opposite from his position. The pebbles stuck, sunk, and disappeared.

…Within seconds.

"So he created an artificial zone of quicksand," the blond sighed at the irrefutable proof. Minato had to hand it to Madara; the old fossil had a twisted talent for orchestrating "natural disasters".

From what he could observe, the entire peninsula that used to comprise Uzu's mainland territory had been completely transformed into a sandbar-like landform. The country's actual administrative center was too far east for him to spot, but Minato could easily imagine a similar (if not worse) fate for that offshore island.

Minato had to consciously relax before he could bite off his own tongue in anger.

Was Kushina truly gone? Minato had difficulty swallowing that bitter conjecture. After ascertaining his time-traveling status, Minato had hoped that he might eventually meet her again; even if she was not the same Kushina he had lost in the future, she could at least grow into that woman someday. But fate just _had_ to toy with him again. It seemed as if he was not even given a chance to start over this time.

Why was it so hard for a ninja to hold onto their precious people?

Kushina could not have already died—Minato simply refused to believe it. There _were_ survivors from the country last time, and he doubted even Madara could track down every single last one of the Uzu fishing boats that had been out on the sea during his attack. There had to be flaws in the execution of that accursed Uchiha's plan, some ways for her to have escaped.

Besides, whatever technique Madara used, it could not have wiped out the entire country in an instant. While it was possible to time all the "attacks" in quick succession, they could not occur all at once. There was a limit to just how much one person could accomplish with elemental jutsus.

…Unless Madara knew about space-time manipulation too.

The thought chilled Minato to the bone. He had always prided himself with his original approach to breaching the conventional boundaries of space and time, but who was to say that such techniques were not already part of some existing bloodline? The one-time Hokage certainly did not know enough about the mysterious _Mangekyou Sharingan_'s exact abilities to deny the possibility. In fact, he did not even know enough to determine _what_ Madara had against Whirlpool Country in the first place.

So many questions, so many hypotheses… and no certain answer.

Minato's knowledge of current affairs was insufficient for him to draw any solid conclusions. He needed more information—information that he could have easily amassed as a Hokage. At this time though, Sandaime-sama was in his prime and Minato had no wish of displacing his perfectly capable predecessor.

Besides, his age right now posed an insurmountable obstacle.

But even if Hokage-level clearance was out of the question for him in the next few years, what about ANBU-, jounin-, or even chuunin-level clearance? Destruction of a moderately sized country like Whirlpool was a major event; some of the details could not possibly be as sensitive as others. Clues to Kushina's survival might easily fall under what he could learn as a lower-ranked ninja… It was not as if she was an important dignitary or something.

And for Minato, a quick rise through the ranks once he became a Konoha ninja again should not be too big of a challenge; after all, he had already done it once. If anything, the one-time Hokage knew that he might even get the needed clearance _faster_ this time. He could simply exploit loopholes in the system that he now knew about. So…

"Dead… or alive," Minato whispered as he suppressed his negative thoughts, "I _will_ find you, Kushina."

Without taking another glance, Minato adjusted the straps of his backpack and forced himself to turn away from the ruins of Touwan. The blond had an immigration application to file at his village's local outpost in Nishwan.

He would find the answers at Konoha.

.

It was late July in Fire Country, with drafts of hot air rising off the ground in translucent waves. Minato wearily swiped a hand over his forehead to keep the sweat beads out of his sight as he nimbly hopped across the treetops. Despite his light-colored hair, the blond still felt as if he was being steamed under the direct sunlight. Maybe he was due for a haircut?

"Freeze! Don't move!"

The sudden shout startled him a little, but Minato simply picked a more suitable landing point and steadied himself. The crown of this particular tree was reasonably broad for him, allowing him to divert some attention away from maintaining a good balance and onto a proper assessment of his surroundings.

That voice had sounded close, but the words spoken were sufficiently indistinct that it must have come from somewhere well below the forest canopy… Perhaps it was someone on those trails? A few months ago, his untrained ears would have been unable to make out anything; even now, after all those exercises that he did to deliberately hone his auditory sense, Minato could still only half-guess at what was being said.

In any case, the directives were unlikely to be meant for him.

'_Should I even investigate?_' Minato would estimate that he was at most only a day's travel from Konoha. Had the war already gone so bad for his village that hostile forces could reach this close without being detected? It did not happen last time, but with how screwed up this timeline was already …

The former Hokage in him was immediately worried. How many enemies were in the area? What was their mission? Who or what was their target? Questions after questions were popping up in Minato's mind, all screaming for an immediate answer. His body itched to go ahead and scout for the information, to gauge enemy layout, to do something, _anything_ to help his village. But he was not even a Konoha ninja yet. Wandering blindly onto a battlefield at his body's current age was hazardous; he had to proceed with caution.

After locating a small opening in the thick layer of leaves, Minato carefully applied some chakra to his feet and quietly "walked" down the main tree trunk. The blond tried to avoid contact with the smaller twigs as much as he could, but his clothes still rustled.

Calmly but swiftly, Minato rearranged his lips and tongue to let out a series of squirrel-like sounds.

It was not anything suspicious, just the typical pattern of shrills used by a squirrel to warn its neighbors about territorial intruders. Any Konoha ninja above genin rank, though, could easily recognize the underlying message: "Friendly about. Is assistance required?"

Of course, save for a special ending note, this trick also happened to be quite common among civilian hunters.

Minato frowned when he received no response. Why was the security so lax around Konoha? If his memory still applied, there should be a sentry point regularly staffed with chuunin rangers not five meters away from here. Was this another reminder that he needed to be less reliant on his past knowledge?

The blond cautiously continued with his downward descent. Slipping a hand into the pouch tied to his waist sash, he took out some make-shift _senbon_ he had made during the past few months of travel. Alright, calling them "senbon" was pushing it, but his arm and hand muscles were not developed enough to deliver precise strikes yet. So bigger sticks were bound to give him bigger chances of hitting his targets, right? They would look less suspicious in the hands of a supposed civilian like him, too.

"Hold up your hands!" the same voice ordered.

Now that Minato was nearly at the forest floor, he could hear the words much better. However, their implied meaning only deepened the crease between his brows.

With one last cluster of leaves still concealing his presence, Minato finally saw the source of all this commotion. Below him, a stocky man in tattered clothes was jabbing a club of some sort at three boys. The children did not appear any better off than their opponent, being dressed in plain and simplified _yukata_ that were obviously frayed at the edges.

'_He just… contradicted himself,_' Minato smiled wryly. '_How can the kids not move and still bring their hands up_?'

Nonetheless, it seemed that the contradiction posed no trouble for the boys; they simply went for the more submissive option and held up their empty hands.

'_So, a road robber,_' Minato was not sure whether to be indignant or incredulous with this conclusion. Surely no robber would be foolish enough to create a scene so close to Konoha? The village's location might not exactly be public knowledge, but its authority in this entire region was absolute. If the man's interior accent was anything to go by, he should already know that his actions would be seen as a direct challenge to Hidden Leaf's juridical powers…

And during wartime, there was very little that Fire Country's "loyal" ninjas could not get away with on home turf.

'_Okay, either this guy has exceptional skills to back him up… or he has exceptional stupidity_,' the blond gave a mental sigh and decided that this was a matter better left to the care of those tardy rangers.

But just before he was about to leave, Minato suddenly paused as the ridiculous nature of this situation truly hit him. Indeed, there should be no reason why a robbery should even take place within Konoha's proximity… No sane civilian would attempt such an act, no matter how desperate he might be. The repercussions for the criminal in question were too great.

'_Ah… Don't tell me this is another stupid test they've set up to test young newcomers to the village?_' His suspicions fully aroused, Minato closed his eyes so that he could better focus on sensing the chakra around him.

It took a while (and he was lucky to have no one there to distract him), but he finally managed to get a blurry picture. Minato could not "see" very far at this time for obvious reasons, what with all the overwhelming buzz of the forest lives around him, but the "robber" obviously had more chakra than was normal for a civilian. For that matter, there was also a definite localization of rich and vibrant chakra that he could detect just across from his position…

A jounin. They actually stationed a _jounin_ here.

Perhaps his village was not being as lax as he thought.

_'And I can't believe I almost fell for this,_' Minato berated himself for his momentary lapse of common sense. However, now that he knew this was some twisted test, the blond had other things to worry about. Obviously, he should stop using any more chakra-based techniques. The tree-walking could be explained as a trick taught by retired ninjas for mundane activities like fruits-gathering, but any actual ninjutsu…

Not that he could perform any at this point anyway.

'_I can't be too good with my aim either,_' Minato mused as he thoughtfully fingered the wooden sticks between his fingers. '_I don't need the status of a suspected child-spy on my record._'

Feeling rather stupid in spite of his own decision, the blond started to "randomly" shower as many sticks as he could on the robber's head. There was really nothing tactical about it; the goal was just to hit the man so many times that he could hopefully be rendered "unconscious".

Of course, Minato had to be quick enough so the "robber" would have little time to react. He also had to adjust his angle continuously to prevent the disguised chuunin from moving out of his attack range.

If this was an actual skirmish, Minato would have already perished within seconds after exposing his position.

But it would seem that Konoha did not really expect much from young children like them anyway. As soon as Minato finished throwing five sticks, the supposed criminal went down like a lifeless doll. The blond almost winced at the chuunin's poor acting skills. Seriously, no healthy and living human being would fall forward with such rigidity in his or her posture. It was not as if he had applied any paralyzing poison on those mock-senbon sticks.

Nevertheless, he had accomplished his "task". Taking a rough estimate of his distance from the ground, Minato decided it was safe enough to simply slide down along the tree trunk. Almost immediately, he felt the curious gaze of those children zoning in on him.

Nodding politely at them in acknowledgement, Minato quickly took out a roll of ropes and began tying the "robber". He did not get too fancy with the knots; in fact, he even specifically used an ordinary type that was more commonly found for securing fish nets on boats. With his future career at Konoha on the line, Minato did not intend to leave any exploitable holes in his background that could give his past training away.

"Thanks," one brown-haired boy stepped forward with a friendly grin as Minato finished his work, "Name's Umino Kujira. What's yours?"

"Namikaze Minato," the blond returned a bright smile of his own, "More nasties here than up?"

There. That should somewhat _explain_ his unusual method of travel to that jounin still up in the trees.

"Yeah, who'd thought we'd meet a robber on the road," Kujira shook his head, clearly still not recovered from the shock of nearly being "robbed".

Minato nodded as if equally confused, "It's really weird. I thought there are ninjas around?"

"Maybe they are," another boy with sleek grey hair spoke up. "But they probably can't cover everywhere."

"Oh, that makes sense," Minato let his expression shifted into one of dawning comprehension. "Um, sorry, but what's your name?"

"It's Yakushi Shiso," said boy replied in a quiet voice before pointing to his remaining companion. "And this is Uzuki Noyaki."

The purple-haired boy dipped his head slightly in Minato's direction, but otherwise said nothing.

'_So… Kujira the Teacher, Shiso the Medic, and Noyaki the Scout_,' Minato's smile deepened as he returned the nod. '_Well met again, Team Clanless-Rights-Advocacy._'

Despite whatever ridicule the snobs from those old clans would pile on them, these three _shinobi_ would always have the one-time Hokage's true respect. Being latecomers to Konoha, first-generation ninjas were historically at a disadvantaged position when compared with their associates from established clans. Even before children are enrolled at the Academy, the gap already existed. The clans began systematically training their young very early, which easily led to bloated and yet often justified egos at school. The clanless ninjas had to shed blood, sweat, and tears just to catch up—only to find themselves behind again when their classmates from clans had advanced ahead as well. It was a vicious cycle that only very few exceptional individuals ever managed to break.

Such as Jiraiya-sensei. Such as Orochimaru-senpai.

Such as himself.

But Minato was ashamed to admit that they all failed to go back and help out their struggling peers. Once they had achieved village-wide acclaim for their skills, it never occurred to them to assist other "outsiders" who were still left to bite the dust of clan members. Minato winced as he remembered that he too had been only too content to bask in the respect that those old clans were finally giving him. Thinking back, Minato wondered if that was part of a conspiracy to keep the clanless ninjas divided and weak as a political group.

It was truly ironic that three "average" ninjas had gone out of their way to do what their "accomplished" peers should have been doing.

"Where are you going?" Minato tried to keep the conversation going as he stuffed the rest of his ropes back into a pack. Unless something else had happened in this new timeline, the blond already had some inkling of what their answer would be.

Indeed, Kujira confirmed it almost immediately, "Konoha, of course! I'm going to become a ninja!"

"Same here," Minato grinned. Kujira might not have been an exceptional ninja—in fact, he was still a chuunin when the Fourth Hokage heard of his early demise after Kyuubi's first sighting in the south—but he had been an excellent and inspirational teacher. As an instructor at the Academy, Kujira was fair to all his pupils. This often led him to give additional lessons for the clanless students. Minato had received strong complaints from the clans about Kujira's "bias" on more than one occasion, but the Yondaime had resolutely stood on the chuunin's side.

It was the least he could do to make up for his past negligence.

Feeling a little thirsty, the blond fumbled through his pack some more for his water bottle and salt bar. Pinching off a bit of the salt, he added it to the water to replenish what he lost through perspiration before turning his eyes to Shiso and Noyaki, "And you?"

"I'd like to be a healer if I can," Shiso shrugged nonchalantly. He was still eyeing the bound and unconscious "robber" a little suspiciously. "But learning some self-defense skills can't hurt."

That was as Minato expected. After all, Shiso had been a high-ranking medical officer under his command. After Tsunade-hime's temperamental departure, the _tokubetsu jounin_ had finally been able to walk out of her shadow and become recognized as the village's valuable asset in his own right.

And before the blond could question the trio's final member, Noyaki spoke, "What Kujira said."

Noyaki had a raspy voice, which was particularly unsettling given his still childish appearance. Minato wondered if that was why the boy was so reluctant to speak. Even as an adult, Noyaki was a quiet man. Of course, that suited his role in the shadows just fine; very few people could make the connection between Noyaki and his codename as a member of the Hokage's ANBU guard—simply because he disguised himself so well and there was never a record of his voice to identify him. Some of the junior squad members from civilian families might have guessed, but they would never sell out on their mentor.

Minato was glad that at least Kujira was still pretty talkative, so he let the brown-haired boy take up most of the chatter as the four of them moved down the trail towards Konoha. The genjutsu defense in place would lead them in a merry circle until someone came to retrieve them anyway, so Minato was not in any particular hurry as Kujira began to spill out all sorts of "trade secrets" that apparently any aspiring ninja should know.

Some of what he said, such as determining ninja ranks from the shade of green a person was wearing, sounded rather amusing from Minato's point of view. Others, like the sore spot about Coast Country's boundary that started the conflict between Konoha and Suna during the last war, had Minato wondering if some of his fellow ninjas had been doing too much gossiping outside the village.

Somewhere along the way, though, Kujira admitted to have also come from the coastal regions. When he found out that Minato was from around Nishiwan, the boy was all too eager to trade notes on fishing techniques. Thankfully, Kujira's family was more into actual _fishing_—so he could not tell that most of what Minato had said about clam and oyster farming was not actually from his own personal experience.

The blond figured that his purely theoretical knowledge could probably fool anyone outside the actual business.

Nonetheless, Minato tried to keep his own words to a minimum and often phrase them in a way so that others were doing the talking. He had very little idea how four-year-olds like him were supposed to act; his past infiltration missions had never actually required him to pose as so young a child. So he tried to play it safe by speaking as succinctly as possible. In fact, he might just as well hold onto this persona even after entering Konoha; it would be the same as the image he presented during his early career last time, after all.

When a whole afternoon did not seem to bring them any closer to Konoha, Minato realized his village's Internal Affairs department probably still found Kujira and his companions lacking. Wanting to test his deduction, the blond made an excuse of wishing to find a bush for relieving himself. Minato had to sigh at just how easily the trio accepted his superficial excuse.

It was little wonder that the village did not want to accept them yet. Oh well, they would eventually make it into Konoha; but maybe just not now.

Retracing his steps back to where he remembered they had left the "robber", Minato did not have to walk very far before a ninja jumped down to approach him. After the chuunin presented credible proof of his identity at Minato's insistence, the blond smiled sheepishly as he watched the man shuffled the papers to give him a different Offer of Acceptance for Immigration.

They were assigning him to a cooperative housing on Tea Street? If that commercial district was still as prosperous as he remembered it, the location should be quite convenient for grocery shopping… They were allocating him a monthly allowance of five hundred _ryou_? That amount was more than generous for a new immigrant… Oh, and they were giving him a coupon book for buying certain products in sponsoring shops? Hmm, this certainly added icing to the cake…

By the time a checkpoint finally came into view, Minato's lips had settled into a wide grin. It seemed that Konoha had not only found him trustworthy after a background check—but also valuable enough to nurture for his potential. The Offer was a lot better than the standardized one he got along with a large group of civilian immigrants last time. Despite this being another deviation in his life, Minato really saw no reason to complain.

At least for him, it could even mean things were finally looking up.

.

Minato wandered aimlessly on the streets.

It had been three months since he entered Konoha. Kujira's trio had also finally been admitted a week ago and was currently going through orientations at the Academy. At age nine, they were a little too old to start their ninja education, but they were all civilian outsiders who had no ways of knowing the admission age. Besides, there were still some small clans in the village that insisted on training their children at a later time; to them, keeping their bloodline alive was more important than being ridiculed for their over-protectiveness.

And given that the level of inter-village conflict so far had yet to _really _necessitate a shorter training cycle, the Academy authorities could not simply force those clans to follow a "recommended" edict. So Kujira and his friends should not stand out in their class… too much.

Turning right on a street corner to avoid going into a dead end, Minato continued to assess the state of his village. There might be fewer idle ninjas on the street, but the civilians did not seem affected. Shops were still stocked with regular products without imposed quotas, and customers were still frequenting them in healthy throngs… Perhaps, in the beginning, Konoha never thought its decision to join Kusa in assisting one side of Bamboo Country's civil war could really start an all-out Great Ninja War.

Well, it might not have been the case if the other side did not happen to be assisted by Taki—which was allied with Iwa, which in turn had a long-time grudge with Suna, which…

Massaging the sides of his head, Minato decided to drop his attempt at remembering the convoluted mess that the Second Great Ninja War eventually turned into. After all, he would not be in a position to influence any of Konoha's tactical decisions, and questioning them might just make him appear insubordinate.

Shifting his attention back to his immediate surroundings, Minato continued to navigate the streets like a native. Really, if not for his unusually bright hair, he could have blended anonymously into the crowd.

After all, he did spend months of morning runs and evening walks to re-familiarize himself with his village.

But this _was_ and _was not_ his Konoha. It had the same location and the same people, but something still feel off.

It was not just the whispers behind his back about his immigrant status rather than his eligible bachelorhood. It was not his missing image on the Hokage's Monument either—the likeness of his carved face had been totally off anyway. He was tempted to say that it was simply because he was in a different time, but his mind already knew that was not the true reason.

It truly all came down to Kushina's absence.

Ever since he confirmed the shocking news of her homeland's early destruction, Minato had tried to put off his thoughts of her by submerging himself in training. Minato had initially agonized for days on just _where_ to begin, before deciding to use tree-hopping as a multi-purpose routine on his way towards Konoha. For one, the hops helped with building his leg muscles and motor coordination. They also forced him to develop a stronger sense of balance, if he did not want to fall off from the trees. At first, he was simply jumping between branches closest to the forest floor; later, when he grew more confident, he gradually progressed through the canopies and went for the treetops.

The one-time Hokage intentionally combined the hops with tree-walking, a very rudimentary chakra control exercise. If he ran low on chakra, Minato would simply keep to the ground and walk leisurely along those trails to keep pushing the limits of his stamina. And when he was finally too tired to move at all, he would find a good resting spot among tree branches and meditate. His sensing exercises usually took place around such times.

Minato knew he could have probably chosen more rigorous exercises, but he did not want to put excess strain on his four-year-old body. His muscles were still developing, and it would be unwise to weaken them with premature stress. Furthermore, while he could explain strong legs with frequent running as a child… but how would he cover for muscled arms?

Um, not _that_ would be possible.

In terms of bringing his body up to a tolerable (but not suspicious) level of fitness, Minato could say that he had succeeded. However, for avoiding thoughts of Kushina, he had failed abysmally.

Just where could she be now? Minato had practically made the public library his second home since he arrived here, but none of the civilian newspapers had said anything beyond a dry statement about the total destruction of Whirlpool Country.

"What is a child like you doing here?"

Minato blinked, suddenly aware that his feet had taken him to his old training ground. It was the same place where both Team Jiraiya and Team Minato had trained… or would train… The semantics was a little confusing now with his time-travelling added to the mix.

But he was getting distracted again. Minato tried to look around, and had to suppress a mischievous grin when he ascertained the one who spoke. After letting himself wander about the village like a lost soul, a fish finally had bit his bait.

"I want to know how ninjas train!" Minato kept his blue eyes wide and innocent; he was well aware of their useful effect on certain members of the Konoha populace. "'Cause they won't let me in at the A-ka-da-mi… but I'll show them I can still find out on my own!"

"There's a reason why they don't admit students before six," the dark-haired woman shook her head, but her expression was clearly one of amusement. "You just have to wait for your turn, child."

The blond kicked at the ground as he pouted childishly, "But I want to know now! I'll never catch up if I just wait."

A sharp glint entered the woman's pale eyes, "Why do you need to catch up? Your classmates will enter the school with you at the same time."

"But!" Minato interjected with seeming impatience, but he knew that he would have to phrase his next words carefully; there was a subtle distinction between the speech pattern of an adult and a precocious child. "I saw White-Eye doing ninja tricks the other day! And, and I'm as tall as him!"

"White-Eye," the woman was obviously trying to hide a full-blown laugh now. "Right… Well, he's probably learning it from his family. You could probably ask for help from yours too."

Minato lowered his head and bit his lips, "Don't have one."

"Oh?" The woman narrowed her eyes as they scrutinized him, but Minato kept his downcast look. "You're an orphan and yet Danzou hasn't sunk his teeth into you?"

Hmm, was the _Ne_ really that big of a public secret even at this time? Minato played his innocent child card and feigned ignorance, "Huh? What's an or-fan or dan-zo? They sound scary."

"Never mind," the woman chuckled lightly. "Well, you must be from the outside then. You just came to Konoha, is that right?"

Minato pretended that he had to think before he could place the village's name, but finally nodded as he counted with his fingers, "Uh-huh. I'm in Ko-no-ha for one… two… three months?"

The woman smiled faintly, "So this is all new to you. Why don't you look around a bit then? There's no hurry for you to start learning 'ninja tricks', as you call them. You have a lot of time in the future."

"But I want to start now," Minato tugged on his plain waist sash. "Don't like them saying things about me."

"Them?" The woman quickly caught his slight stress on the word.

Minato nodded morosely, "Yeah, _they_ say I'm always eating and no good."

Although her eyes hardened, the woman's tone softened, "Is that so? Well, would you like to try something today then?"

The blond instantly jumped on her, "Really? Are you going to show me how to do the tricks?"

The woman peeled him off with ease, "Sure. But just this time—unless you can get it today."

"I'll get it!" Minato grinned confidently. "Show me, show me!"

"We'll see," the woman's lips twisted slightly upward on one corner. "Watch carefully then. First, you hold your hand like so…"

It turned out to be a simple water tracking technique, very useful when one had no visible source of drinking water. Minato used it often enough when he had missions in the Wind Country. Nonetheless, the blond had no idea how this woman could possibly expect a four-year-old to perform a water-element ninjutsu. He would be lying if he said that he still held a high opinion of her now.

Regardless, it would not do to show his annoyance. The explanations involved would get rather messy. So Minato merely twisted his fingers clumsily and let his chakra flow through them; he was a little curious himself on what kind of effect he could get. To avoid possible suspicion, the blond had yet to attempt any hand seals or ninjutsu since he came back into the past. As a result, he was currently just as clueless as the woman beside him when it came to how specialized his chakra actually was.

After he completed the jutsu, Minato immediately felt a stream of chakra erupting from his hand. Before he could even blink, a massive fountain of water had burst forth from the ground in front of them.

"Woah!" This time, Minato was not faking his surprise.

'_I thought my primary affinity was wind?_' The one-time Hokage could only stare at the enormous jet of water that his own chakra had called forth. '_I did develop a water affinity later on… but that was like my quaternary affinity?_'

In any case, he should not have been able to get this much water. True, Fire Country might be richer in groundwater than Wind Country, but this was getting a little outrageous!

The woman was just as shocked as him. "That was… great. And it's your first try too."

Minato was not so optimistic. He could already imagine the kind of problems that he would run into in the future. Given how easy it had been for him to execute a water jutsu at this age, there was a high likelihood that somehow his primary affinity was now changed to water…

What was he supposed to do with a _water_ affinity??!!

Sure, he knew plenty of Water Release techniques, but he was used to having a wind affinity. Despite his knowledge on various types of ninjutsus, his mind tended to automatically fall back on Wind Release techniques. He was used to cutting and slicing… And losing that natural trait now was going to wreak all sorts of havoc if he continued to fight with the same mentality. With how intimately he had known the wind element, he probably could get it back as a secondary affinity later on—but it would still not be the same. But he would have to adjust to this new development soon. Complaining about a situation would not make it go away.

A treacherous part of his mind was already linking his changed affinity to his dead mother. She was already no longer around, true, but could she have done something to him before her death? Or, for that matter, _fail_ to do something to him?

Minato did know of certain seals that could block off natural affinities if they were applied at an early age…

Another woman's excited voice saved him from any more dangerous thoughts, "Well! I do believe you are ready for ninja tricks after all. I have to head back to my home soon, but would you like to meet again tomorrow?"

The blond plastered an equally excited smile on his face, "Sure, sensei!"

He made a mental apology to Jiraiya-sensei, his past and hopefully _future_ teacher. If the chuunin was not already dispatched to Rain Country with his team at this time, the Toad Sennin would definitely have been Minato's instructor of choice. After all, the blond did train under Jiraiya—so the man would have been a much more believable cover for his body of advanced knowledge. But this woman would not be a bad alternative… not a bad one at all…

Said woman was currently startled by the new title he had given her, but she smiled readily, "Oh, there's no need to call me sensei, child. I'm not about to compete with your Academy teachers. Just call me Touka-san and we'll be set, okay?"

Minato nodded, carefully dulling his smile to a shyer one, "Okay, Touka-san. Thank you, Touka-san."

"So polite," the woman tried to pat down his spiky hair, which only bounced right back to their messy form as soon as her hands departed. She chuckled at the futility of her attempt as she asked, "And what is your name, child?"

"Minato," the blond felt it easier to curl his lips to a natural angle, now that he had confirmed the woman's identity. "Namikaze Minato."

"Okay, Minato," Senju Touka's face returned to its original aloofness as she straightened up. "I will see you tomorrow then."

"See you, Touka-san," Minato waved happily as she left the training area. Well, his plan had gone relatively smoothly—other than this annoying change of his affinity.

After all, he was now the honorary student of an adviser to both Shodai-sama and Nidaime-sama. Such an identity would be most useful against the likes of Danzou and that arrogant Council in the future.

They wanted to flaunt their seniority over him? Well, he would not mind throwing it right back at them this time. And in a few years when he had rebuilt or even improved his connections within the village, he would make them regret having ever _tried_ to turn Namikaze Minato into their nice little puppet-Hokage.

.

"Namikaze Minato," the Third Hokage scanned the student record in front of him with his dark eyes as he read out the key points. "Academy entry – 17th Spring Semester: age 6… Advanced placement exam – 100% cumulative… Semester grades – 1/180 in Taijutsu, 1/180 in Ninjutsu, 1/180 in Tactics… Graduation exam – 100% cumulative… These are very impressive marks, Minato-kun."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Minato blushed as he felt his ears heating up as his one-time predecessor turned to face and compliment him. Indeed, it would have been embarrassing for a former Hokage to perform anything _but_ impressive on those basic assignments and tests. Not to mention, he had been tutored by an elite member of the Senju clan for the past two years and could _legitimately_ reveal some of his regained skills without suspicion. It truly felt like he was cheating the system.

Of course, this was normally not a big issue with the ever "flexible" Minato; but Sandaime-sama somehow always retained the power to reduce him to the same "naturalized" ten-year-old who just got his Konoha _hitai-ate_, and was so excited that he actually stayed up all night so he could race to the Hokage Tower the next day to get his ninja registration number…

Only to discover he had forgotten his headband at home as he arrived at the Tower.

For _absolutely_ no reason at all, Minato felt like the same sheepish look that he had back then was silently creeping up on his face.

"From the looks of things," Sarutobi mercifully shifted his eyes back to the paper at the last moment. "There's no reason why you cannot graduate this September."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Minato could only parrot himself again as he tried to distract himself with examining the Hokage's desk. Yes, it was the still the same one that he had back in his original time. That 45 degree grazing mark looked a little lighter, but not by much. And there was also that hidden drawer where Minato had to clear out the porn stash before stuffing in his own research notes… Damn, he needed to get the image of Sandaime-sama reading that mindless trash out of his mind again.

"So have you thought about your career options?"

Minato blinked dumbly just as he got rid of that last vision of a voluptuous woman in a half-stripped state. "I think so, er… Hokage-sama."

Whew. He nearly said "_ero-Hokage-sama_"…

"Which track do you intend to pursue?" Sandaime-sama asked, completely oblivious to the plight of his village's latest prodigy.

Well, if Minato just wanted the easiest way out, becoming a seal master would probably be the best answer; he _was_ already a widely-acknowledged one in his last life, even if it was only known to himself at this point in his new life. But "easy" also meant a lack of challenge and intellectual stimulation—something that was totally abhorrent to Minato.

Besides, Minato needed to rise through the ranks fast if he wished to obtain the needed clearance for locating Kushina's whereabouts. While he was at it, he might as well continue to match and surpass Orochimaru-senpai's career advancement; such a record would only help him become a less disputed candidate for the Fourth Hokage this time around. Minato had neither the time nor patience to go along with the Council's power plays in his second life—especially when he knew that Madara's existence was still threatening his village. He needed unquestioned authority within Konoha if he was to lead a united front against Kiri.

And the only area that allowed him to explore new frontiers of knowledge, to go on high-rank missions during the war despite a relatively low ninja rank, to gain seniority quickly in a department still in its infancy…

"Medical ninja," Minato replied calmly as he steeled his resolve. It was a path he never walked last time, but it was the best one in his second life given the new priorities. "I would like to become a med-nin."

* * *

**A/N:** The trio's surnames pretty much gave away their relation to canon cast. And Senju Touka is yet another 'historical' character Kishimoto had left us very little info with—so I figured she would fit nicely with my story?

Feedback appreciated. It's rather depressing to see many hits but few reviews. Is my writing so bad people would leave after reading 3 sentences?


End file.
